THE HOT CORNER: Major future might fly, parks won't

by Jim Allen (Jun 19, 2008)

It's no longer any secret that Major League Baseball would love to
have its own teams in Asia. Although Asia's leagues are still
incompatible with those in the majors, the day will come when both
sides make the leap.

There are two principle scenarios as to how this international baseball conspiracy might manifest itself.

The first is the isolation plan, which would set up a third MLB
league here, the Asian League, out of existing leagues and structures.
In this scenario, Asian teams would not travel across the Pacific
except to take part in the playoffs and potentially the World Series.
This would require little modification but is far less intriguing than
option No. 2, the integration scenario.

In this plan, teams from Asia and North America would take turns flying across the Pacific on extended road trips.

This latter scenario is controversial because of questions about the
travel. It would be a change similar to the National League's westward
relocation in 1958 and the American League's expansion to Los Angeles
in 1961. The need to fly to California changed the business.

Although air travel was already becoming common by the mid-1950s,
teams in California meant there would be no way for players to avoid
planes. In 1959, star Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Jensen quit
because of his fear of flying.

Because baseball trips to Asia are still more or less reserved for
big-budget events, the thought of MLB teams taking that long flight to
spend three weeks playing Asian opponents still seems fantastic.

But it is just a matter of what you're used to.

Teams can get used to it, largely because it will be a massive money
maker. If two North American squads swing through Asia at one time,
while one team from Japan and one from either Taiwan or South Korea
visit North America, the television revenues will make the trips
worthwhile.

Milwaukee fans will want to see the Brewers playing at Tokyo Dome,
while much of Japan might tune in to see the Yomiuri Giants play the
San Francisco Giants in a meaningful game.

One wouldn't want two Japanese teams to go at the same time, because
that would dilute the interest. Let's say the Asian League consisted of
eight Japanese squads, two South Korean clubs and two Taiwan teams or
some combination that permits teams in Shanghai and Beijing.

By keeping two teams from the same nation traveling in the States at
the same time, there would only be one Japanese team on the air in the
morning. If the Hanshin Tigers were playing in Seattle while the
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks were in St. Louis, it would shrink the market
for both games.

The biggest problem with the integration scenario, however, is not
jet lag but ballpark lag. Most Asian ballparks simply aren't posh
enough to host the kind of trans-Pacific competition that would make an
Asian League fly.

A big part of MLB's business, as well as that of the NFL and NBA, is
based on getting local taxpayers to subsidize the monopolists. The NFL
refused to put a team in the United States' second biggest media
market, Los Angeles, because California lawmakers refused to foot more
of the bill.

Every time an NBA or NFL or MLB executive says his team has a right
to operate just like any other normal business and move where it likes,
remember that. Big sports teams largely profit by blackmailing local
taxpayers. When that doesn't work they blame the customers.

What is normal about that?

That explains why most American teams don't pay fair market rent for
their state-of-the-art stadiums--but still take in amazing profits.
Because Asian owners don't blackmail local governments, they have to
spend their own money on stadium upgrades, while major league owners
turn extortion swag into higher payrolls that Asian clubs can't match.

Integration requires this issue be solved. If Asian teams are to
attract a larger share of the world's best talent, they'll need better
ballparks. Of course, MLB could come in and give NPB lessons in
extortion, but nobody wants to see that.

Unless this park problem is fixed, it won't matter how easy the air travel is, because the basic idea won't fly.